Although there will be great excitement and anticipation ahead of the 2027 World Cup, and especially as Rassie Erasmus looks to lead the Springboks to a hat-trick of titles, there are also some hard facts that will have to be addressed.
World Rugby has sought to put a positive spin on the fact that there will be an expanded 24-team tournament, and a new-look format, but the truth is that the pool stages of the tournament will be filled with lopsided and potentially ‘boring’ results.
For example, the Springboks have been drawn alongside Italy, Georgia and Romania in the pool stage, and would be expected to finish top of Pool B comfortably, and the defending champs would then face a third-place finisher from either Pool C, E or F in the Round of 16, and they’d certainly be favourites there.
Where it gets interesting is that the pairing of winners from the Round of 16 are then set to meet in the quarter-finals. This puts the Springboks and All Blacks on a collision course for a quarter-final meeting in what would be a repeat of the 2023 World Cup final.
Alternatively, the Springboks could face Australia considering the hosts have been drawn in the same pool as New Zealand, but either way the competition is set to get ‘real’ only at the quarter-final stage.
Rassie Erasmus makes interesting point
With all the various logistics in mind, Rassie Erasmus has interestingly highlighted a travel obstacle the Springboks will need to factor into their planning.
“Our operations and logistics team will start getting into the finer details of the travel in the coming weeks, with our pool matches being hosted in different cities, while the coaches and high-performance staff will start having in-depth discussions about how to manage the players during the tournament to get the best out of them on the field,” he commented.
“The one thing that pops out looking at the schedule is that, should we progress to the playoffs, there will be travel between the round of 16 and quarter-final, which is something we have to factor into our planning, as the flight is just under five hours between Perth and Sydney, and there is a two-hour time difference.
“Over and above that, our likely opponents could be either Australia or New Zealand, and it would be good to see their travel schedules. But obviously, we have to make it through first, which will require a massive effort.”
It is an interesting point, and clearly the Springboks are already thinking about some of the unusual challenges that could come their way in a new-look tournament that will be hosted in a country with different time zones.
Pool stages:
Sunday, 3 October – 14h15 (05:45 SA time): SA v Italy (Adelaide Oval)
Sunday, 10 October – 16h45 (08:45 SA time): SA v Georgia (Brisbane Stadium)
Sunday, 17 October – 19h15 (13:15 SA time): SA v Romania (Perth Stadium)
Round of 16:
Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 October (Perth Stadium/Docklands Stadium, Melbourne)
Quarter-finals:
Saturday 30 and Sunday 31 October (Stadium Australia, Sydney/Brisbane Stadium)
Semi-finals:
Friday 5 and Saturday 6 November: Stadium Australia, Sydney
Final:
Saturday 13 November – 20:00 (11:00 SA time): Stadium Australia, Sydney
POOL DRAW
- Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Chile, Hong Kong China
- Pool B: South Africa, Italy, Georgia, Romania
- Pool C: Argentina, Fiji, Spain, Canada
- Pool D: Ireland, Scotland, Uruguay, Portugal
- Pool E: France, Japan, USA, Samoa
- Pool F: England, Wales, Tonga, Zimbabwe
